Educating for adaptive expertise: case examples along the medical education continuum

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Professional Development
• Learning Sciences

Background:

• Adaptive expertise combines efficient problem-solving with innovation for novel challenges.
• Fostering adaptive expertise necessitates deeper, effortful learning strategies.
• Implementing these strategies in health professions education is challenging.

Purpose of the Study:

• To describe strategies for cultivating adaptive expertise across the medical education continuum.
• To illustrate the flexibility of adaptive expertise conceptualization in diverse educational contexts.
• To highlight the importance of customizing educational approaches to learner developmental stages.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of educational experiences across undergraduate, residency, and continuous professional development settings.
• Description of curricular strategies implemented at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine.
• Deployment of diverse instructional approaches within emergency medicine residency programs.
• Organizational orientation towards an adaptive expertise mindset at Mayo Clinic.

Main Results:

• Curricular restructuring at Vanderbilt facilitated adaptive expertise development, balancing long-term learning with short-term assessments.
• Diverse instructional approaches were used in emergency medicine residencies, balancing adaptive expertise with clinical efficiency.
• A continuous professional development program at Mayo Clinic fostered an organizational adaptive expertise mindset.
• Adaptive expertise conceptualization is flexible and requires context-specific customization.

Conclusions:

• Tailoring educational approaches to learner developmental stages is crucial for cultivating adaptive expertise.
• Teaching adaptive expertise influences professional identity, promoting lifelong learning strategies.
• Effective strategies require balancing deeper learning with the practical demands of clinical education and practice.